R-I to require masks for grades 4-12

The Poplar Bluff R-I School Board approved a mask requirement for grades 4-12 at a specially called board meeting Thursday afternoon.

The requirement goes into place Monday, as the next day the district is in class.

Dr. Scott Dill, superintendent, said the district has a supply of masks for those who need them.

Dill brought the issue to the board after growing concern over the number of students, especially at the high school, who are positive or in contact trace.

According to information from the district, 20 students at the high school level have tested positive and 341 are in quarantine, while the junior high has six positive students and 79 in quarantine and the middle school has four positive students and 95 in quarantine.

Overall, about 9.77% of the district is in quarantine, with most at the upper levels, Dill said.

The board decided on the mandate rather than moving the upper levels to a cohort system, where the students would be put in two groups, with each at school two days a week.

Dill said the district was preparing to move to the cohort system at those levels and started discussions on what it would look like.

Under that plan, there would be a virtual day for all students on Wednesday, which would allow the buildings to be cleaned between the two groups of students.

However, he continued, he’d rather have students in physical class as much as possible.

“That would cut down the amount of available instruction time,” Dill said.

Board members agreed they’d rather avoid that course of action.

To lower the number of students affected by the virus, the board moved to discussing the mask requirement for students.

Dill said he would like to see the mandate for all students, but asked the board for it to be grades 7-12 as those are the students with the most cases.

For families and students who don’t want to wear the mask, the district offers a virtual program.

Dill said the transition isn’t seamless for the upper levels and depending on the situation, the students may lose credit or need to make up the first quarter online just based on how the credit transfers.

Not all of the electives available at school are available online.

“It’s not a great option, but it is an option,” Dill said.

Students with medical concerns can be exempt from the mask rule with a written doctor’s note turned into the district.

Dill said he doesn’t want mask wearing to be a disciplinary issue, but the district needs to ensure they’re being worn. As long as they follow the requirement, those schools will mostly not need contact tracing.

“If an individual elects to not comply with that rule, they probably need to go home for the day,” Dill said. “Not as a disciplinary (issue), but just as this is our minimum threshold for being present in the building. We will have them wait in the nurse’s office or principal’s office and call parents to pick them up ...

“We have to make a good faith effort to ensure that we are in full compliance with the agreements that we have with (the Butler County Health Department).”

Dill said he’s in discussion with the building principals to work out the details on certain situations, such as physical education class.

In that instance, he said, he would lean toward not requiring masks as there’s enough space for the students to socially distance.

“The people that I talk to, when you say ‘look, it’s either shutdown, go to a split week or do this.’ Everybody says do this,” board president John Scott said.

The mandate is not permanent, but how long it will be in place depends on not only the district’s numbers, but the Butler County numbers as well.

Why not include the younger students?

Board members discussed implementing a mask mandate at all grade levels, but decided, at the moment, the data doesn’t support a need for younger students.

According to district data, most of the elementary schools and lower have one or two positive cases, if any at all. Those levels also have few quarantined students.

Since the district started tracking cases at the beginning of September, the most positives at an elementary school at one time has been three.

If those numbers increase, board members discussed revisiting the topic.

“The data doesn’t show that those kids need it,” board member Roger Hanner said.

“And, it hasn’t so far,” agreed Dr. Scott Dill, superintendent.

Board members encouraged administration to look into Plexiglas dividers to go at the desks of students at the lower grade levels.